1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in part relates to the discovery that the T1R receptors assemble to form functional taste receptors. Particularly, it has been discovered that co-expression of T1R1 and T1R3 results in a taste receptor that responds to umami taste stimuli, including monosodium glutamate. Also, it has been discovered that co-expression of the T1R2 and T1R3 receptors results in a taste receptor that responds to sweet taste stimuli including naturally occurring and artificial sweeteners.
Also, the present invention relates to the use of hetero-oligomeric taste receptors comprising T1R1/T1R3 and T1R2/T1R3 in assays to identify compounds that respectively respond to umami taste stimuli and sweet taste stimuli.
The invention also relates to chimeras and truncated versions of T1R1, T1R2, and T1R3, as well as chimeras of T1R1/T1R3 and T1R2/T1R3 receptors comprising human, rat, or human and rat subunits.
Further, the invention relates to the construction of cell lines that stably or transiently co-express a combination of T1R1 and T1R3; or T1R2 and T1R3, including truncated or chimeric versions of these subunits as well as chimeric receptors comprising wild-type or chimeric subunits; under constitutive or inducible conditions.
The use of these cell lines in cell-based assays to identify umami and sweet taste modulatory compounds is also provided, particularly high throughput screening assays that detect receptor activity by the use of fluorometric imaging.
The invention also relates to compounds that bind to T1R1/T1R3, T1R2/T1R3 receptors, as well as T1R1, T1R2, and T1R3 chimeric and truncated subunits and chimeric receptors.
2. Description of the Related Art
The taste system provides sensory information about the chemical composition of the external world. Mammals are believed to have at least five basic taste modalities: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami. See, e.g., Kawamura et al., Introduction to Umami: A Basic Taste (1987); Kinnamon et al., Ann. Rev. Physiol., 54:715-31 (1992); Lindemann, Physiol. Rev., 76:718-66 (1996); Stewart et al., Am. J. Physiol., 272:1-26 (1997). Each taste modality is thought to be mediated by a distinct protein receptor or receptors that are expressed in taste receptor cells found on the surface of the tongue (Lindemann, Physol. Rev. 76:718-716 (1996)). The taste receptors that recognize bitter, sweet, and umami taste stimuli belong to the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily (Hoon et al., Cell 96:451 (1999); Adler et al., Cell 100:693 (2000)). (Other taste modalities are believed to be mediated by ion channels.)
G protein-coupled receptors mediate many other physiological functions, such as endocrine function, exocrine function, heart rate, lipolysis, and carbohydrate metabolism. The biochemical analysis and molecular cloning of a number of such receptors has revealed many basic principles regarding the function of these receptors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,188 describes how upon a ligand binding to a GPCR, the receptor undergoes a conformational change leading to activation of a heterotrimeric G protein by promoting the displacement of bound GDP by GTP on the surface of the Gα subunit and subsequent dissociation of the Gα subunit from the Gβ and Gγ subunits. The free Gα subunits and Gβγ complexes activate downstream elements of a variety of signal transduction pathways.
The T1R receptors were previously hypothesized to function as sweet taste receptors (Hoon et al., Cell 96:541-51 (1999); Kitagawa et al., Biochem Biophys Res. Commun. 283:236-42 (2001); Max et al., Nat. Genet. 28:58-63 (2001); Montmayeur et al., Nat. Neurosci. 4: 412-8 (2001); Sainz et al., J. Neurochem. 77: 896-903 (2001)), and Nelson et al. (2001) and Li et al (2002) have recently demonstrated that rat and human, respectively, T1R2 and T1R3 act in combination to recognize sweet taste stimuli.
However, there remains in the art a need for new and improved flavoring agents. For example, one of the five known basic tastes is the “savory” or “umami” flavor of monosodium glutamate (“MSG”). MSG is known to produce adverse reactions in some people, but very little progress has been made in identifying artificial substitutes for MSG. It is known that a few naturally occurring materials can increase or enhance the effectiveness of MSG as a savory flavoring agent, so that less MSG would be needed for a given flavoring application. For example the naturally occurring nucleotide compounds inosine monophosphate (IMP) or guanosine monophosphate (GMP) are known to have a multiplier effect on the savory taste of MSG, but IMP and GMP are very difficult and expensive to isolate and purify from natural sources, or synthesize, and hence have only limited practical application to most commercial needs in food or medicinal compositions. Less expensive compounds that would provide the flavor of MSG itself, or enhance the effectiveness of any MSG that is present could be of very high value. Similarly, discovery of compounds that are either new “High Intensity” sweeteners (i.e. they are many times sweeter than sucrose) would be of value.
What is needed in the art is the identification and characterization of taste receptors which function as sweet and umami receptors, assays for identifying compounds that modulate (enhance or block) sweet and umami taste, and the compounds that specifically bind to these receptors.